The present invention relates to dispensers which dispense water conditioning or treating agents, such as sanitizing/disinfecting/purifying chemicals (i.e., chlorine, bromine, or non-chlorine oxidizers), water purifying microbes, algaecides or anti-microbial agents for virtually any body of water, such as, but not limited to, pools, ponds, hot tubs, and fountains and other water features. In particular the invention relates to a dispenser of water treating agents which will provide a notification when the dispenser needs to be refilled.
Oxidizers are commonly used to sanitize and disinfect water in bodies of water, such as noted above. Algaecides are used to rid a body of water of unwanted algae. These chemicals can be added to the water either as a liquid or as a solid. There are numerous types of dispensers for solid chemicals. However, these solid chemical dispensers are typically floating dispensers. Thus, they release the chemical near the surface of the water, resulting in a stratified layer at the bottom of the body of water where there is not much chemical. Further, such floating dispensers can interfere with, or get in the way of, people playing or swimming in the water. There are also solid chemical dispensers which rest on the bottom pool. However, dispensers at the bottom of the body of water are more difficult to retrieve to check the chemical level in the dispenser and more difficult to refill. In addition, there are dispensers wherein algaecide, supplied as a compressed solid, is placed in a pool skimmer. These, like the floating dispensers noted above, result in the pool water being stratified, with an upper layer containing the algaecide and a lower layer with not much algaecide.
It would be desirable to provide a dispenser which will sink to the bottom of the body of water when filled with water treating agent but which will then rise to the surface when the water treating agent is substantially depleted (i.e., when the dispenser is mostly empty of water treating agent).